Yankees 6, Orioles 3(11)

One night after getting stomped by the New York Yankees, the
Baltimore Orioles turned in an inspired performance against their
AL East rivals.

Unfortunately for Baltimore, the game had a sickeningly familiar
ending.

Russell Martin singled home the tiebreaking run in the 11th
inning after Mariano Rivera gave up the lead in the ninth, and the
Yankees escaped with a 6-3 victory Sunday.

Less than 24 hours earlier, the Orioles yielded five home runs
in a 15-3 defeat. In this one, they rallied from a three-run
deficit and forced extra innings on a double by Brian Roberts with
two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

It all came apart in the 11th, however, after a 40-minute rain
delay.

”I won’t say it messed us up,” center fielder Adam Jones said,
”but we had a lot of momentum going before it. What can you
do?”

In a three-run 11th, the Yankees got three infield hits and took
advantage of two Baltimore throwing errors.

”We didn’t do enough to win,” Jones conceded.

But at least Baltimore didn’t go quietly after falling behind
3-0.

”I was real proud of everybody,” manager Buck Showalter said.
”We’ll get some breaks to go our way and we’ll keep
battling.”

Mark Reynolds, who hit a two-run homer, said, ”We just got some
bad bounces here, bad bounces there, and come out on the losing end
somehow.”

Robinson Cano led off the 11th with a double off Jason Berken
(0-1). After Nick Swisher failed on a bunt attempt, Cano was caught
between the bases. Catcher Matt Wieters threw to second, and Cano
scampered safely to third.

Swisher struck out, and after an intentional walk to Eric
Chavez, Martin hit a grounder deep in the hole to shortstop Robert
Andino, who threw wildly to second in a desperate attempt to start
a double play.

”It’s just a firm ground ball that was hit in the right spot,”
Showalter said. ”Robert tried to make a great play and I applaud
him for it.”

One out later, Derek Jeter hit a slow roller to third, and
Reynolds’ throw went awry on what was ruled an infield hit. Curtis
Granderson followed with an RBI single off the glove of Roberts at
second base.

Boone Logan (1-1) got four outs, and Buddy Carlyle retired the
final two batters.

Jeter had four hits for the Yankees, who earned their sixth
straight series win at Camden Yards. New York is 41-17 against
Baltimore since the start of the 2008 season.

After Reynolds homered off Chamberlain to make it 3-2 in the
seventh, the Orioles drew even in the ninth. With runners on first
and second and two outs, Roberts bounced a double into the
right-field corner. One run scored, but Andino was thrown out at
the plate by Cano, who took the relay from Swisher.

”A perfect relay is what it takes,” Yankees manager Joe
Girardi said. ”Swish comes up and hits the cutoff man, hits
Robbie, and Robbie makes a good throw and we get Andino.”

In the top of the 10th, New York had runners at the corners with
one out when Alex Rodriguez lifted a fly ball to medium center.
Jeter tagged up at third and Jones uncorked a dart that reached
Wieters in the air.

Wieters had the plate blocked, and he tagged Jeter for the final
out.

”Pretty simple,” Jones said. ”Who cares about the cutoff man
in that situation? If I one-hopped it or anything like that, he
would have been safe.”

Freddy Garcia pitched six innings of two-hit ball for New York
and left with a 3-0 lead. He struck out seven and walked two in his
second start with the Yankees. The right-hander permitted one
runner past second base and retired 13 of the last 14 batters he
faced.

With the score 3-2 in the eighth, the Orioles got runners on the
corners with two outs in the eighth against David Robertson.

Rivera came in to face Luke Scott, who hit an opposite-field
liner to left that the speedy Brett Gardner snagged just short of
the warning track. In a rare outburst of emotion, a grinning Rivera
thrust his right arm upward before walking off the mound.

”It’s a game-saving play is what it is,” Girardi said.

Orioles starter Jake Arrieta gave up three runs, five hits and
three walks in six innings. The right-hander had a career-high nine
strikeouts.

New York needed only four pitches to take a 2-0 lead. After
Jeter singled on Arrieta’s first offering, Granderson hit a 1-1
pitch into the right-field seats, his team-high seventh homer of
the season.

Arrieta rebounded from his poor start to keep the Yankees in
check until the fifth, when Granderson doubled and scored on a
grounder by Rodriguez.

NOTES: Reynolds’ homer ended his 0-for-22 skid. … Roberts
stretched his hitting streak to 11 games. … Cano extended his
hitting streak to 13 games, and now has hit in 16 straight games
against the Orioles.